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Journal of Neuroscience Research Jun 2020Goal-directed and habitual decision-making are fundamental processes that support the ongoing adaptive behavior. There is a growing interest in examining their... (Review)
Review
Goal-directed and habitual decision-making are fundamental processes that support the ongoing adaptive behavior. There is a growing interest in examining their disruption in psychiatric disease, often with a focus on a disease shifting control from one process to the other, usually a shift from goal-directed to habitual control. However, several different experimental procedures can be used to probe whether decision-making is under goal-directed or habitual control, including outcome devaluation and contingency degradation. These different experimental procedures may recruit diverse behavioral and neural processes. Thus, there are potentially many opportunities for these disease phenotypes to manifest as alterations to both goal-directed and habitual controls. In this review, we highlight the examples of behavioral and neural circuit divergence and similarity, and suggest that interpretation based on behavioral processes recruited during testing may leave more room for goal-directed and habitual decision-making to coexist. Furthermore, this may improve our understanding of precisely what the involved neural mechanisms underlying aspects of goal-directed and habitual behavior are, as well as how disease affects behavior and these circuits.
Topics: Animals; Brain; Decision Making; Goals; Habits
PubMed: 31642551
DOI: 10.1002/jnr.24545 -
Scientific Reports Oct 2023During insightful problem solving, the solution appears unexpectedly and is accompanied by the feeling of an AHA!. Research suggests that this affective component of...
During insightful problem solving, the solution appears unexpectedly and is accompanied by the feeling of an AHA!. Research suggests that this affective component of insight can have consequences beyond the solution itself by motivating future behavior, such as risky (high reward and high uncertainty) decision making. Here, we investigate the behavioral and neural support for the motivational role of AHA in decision making involving monetary choices. The positive affect of the AHA! experience has been linked to internal reward. Reward in turn has been linked to dopaminergic signal transmission in the Nucleus Accumbens (NAcc) and risky decision making. Therefore, we hypothesized that insight activates reward-related brain areas, modulating risky decision making. We tested this hypothesis in two studies. First, in a pre-registered online study (Study 1), we demonstrated the behavioral effect of insight-related increase in risky decision making using a visual Mooney identification paradigm. Participants were more likely to choose the riskier monetary payout when they had previously solved the Mooney image with high compared to low accompanied AHA!. Second, in an fMRI study (Study 2), we measured the effects of insight on NAcc activity using a similar Mooney identification paradigm to the one of Study 1. Greater NAcc activity was found when participants solved the Mooney image with high vs low AHA!. Taken together, our results link insight to enhanced NAcc activity and a preference for high but uncertain rewards, suggesting that insight enhances reward-related brain areas possibly via dopaminergic signal transmission, promoting risky decision making.
Topics: Humans; Nucleus Accumbens; Decision Making; Brain; Uncertainty; Problem Solving; Dopamine; Reward; Risk-Taking
PubMed: 37821507
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-44293-2 -
Hormones and Behavior Sep 2020Decision-making is a complex process essential to daily adaptation in many species. Risk is an inherent aspect of decision-making and it is influenced by gonadal...
Decision-making is a complex process essential to daily adaptation in many species. Risk is an inherent aspect of decision-making and it is influenced by gonadal hormones. Testosterone and 17β-estradiol may modulate decision making and impact the mesocorticolimbic dopamine pathway. Here, we explored sex differences, the effect of gonadal hormones and the dopamine agonist amphetamine on risk-based decision making. Intact or gonadectomised (GDX) male and female rats underwent to a probabilistic discounting task. High and low doses of testosterone propionate (1.0 or 0.2 mg) and 17β-estradiol benzoate (0.3 μg) were administered to assess acute effects on risk-based decision making. After 3-days of washout period, intact and GDX rats received high or low (0.5 or 0.125 mg/kg) doses of amphetamine and re-tested in the probabilistic discounting task. Under baseline conditions, males made more risky choices during probability discounting compared to female rats, particularly in the lower probability blocks, but GDX did not influence risky choice. The high, but not the low dose, of testosterone modestly reduced risky decision making in GDX male rats. Conversely, 17β-estradiol had no significant effect on risky choice regardless of GDX status in either sex. Lastly, a higher dose of amphetamine increased risky decision making in both intact males and females, but had no effect in GDX rats. These findings demonstrated sex differences in risk-based decision making, with males showing a stronger bias toward larger, uncertain rewards. GDX status influenced the effects of amphetamine, suggesting different dopaminergic regulation in risk-based choices among males and females.
Topics: Amphetamine; Animals; Behavior, Animal; Castration; Cognition; Decision Making; Delay Discounting; Dopamine; Dopamine Agonists; Estradiol; Female; Male; Rats; Rats, Long-Evans; Reward; Risk Reduction Behavior; Sex Characteristics; Testosterone
PubMed: 32640197
DOI: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2020.104815 -
Trends in Neurosciences Feb 2022Suboptimal decision-making strategies have been proposed to contribute to the pathophysiology of addiction. Decision-making, however, arises from a collection of... (Review)
Review
Suboptimal decision-making strategies have been proposed to contribute to the pathophysiology of addiction. Decision-making, however, arises from a collection of computational components that can independently influence behavior. Disruptions in these different components can lead to decision-making deficits that appear similar behaviorally, but differ at the computational, and likely the neurobiological, level. Here, we discuss recent studies that have used computational approaches to investigate the decision-making processes underlying addiction. Studies in animal models have found that value updating following positive, but not negative, outcomes is predictive of drug use, whereas value updating following negative, but not positive, outcomes is disrupted following drug self-administration. We contextualize these findings with studies on the circuit and biological mechanisms of decision-making to develop a framework for revealing the biobehavioral mechanisms of addiction.
Topics: Animals; Behavior, Addictive; Decision Making; Humans; Reinforcement, Psychology; Substance-Related Disorders
PubMed: 34920884
DOI: 10.1016/j.tins.2021.11.007 -
The British Journal of General Practice... Aug 2022Shared decision making (SDM), utilising the expertise of both patient and clinician, is a key feature of good-quality patient care. Multimorbidity can complicate SDM,...
BACKGROUND
Shared decision making (SDM), utilising the expertise of both patient and clinician, is a key feature of good-quality patient care. Multimorbidity can complicate SDM, yet few studies have explored this dynamic for older patients with multimorbidity in general practice.
AIM
To explore factors influencing SDM from the perspectives of older patients with multimorbidity and GPs, to inform improvements in personalised care.
DESIGN AND SETTING
Qualitative study. General practices (rural and urban) in Devon, England.
METHOD
Four focus groups: two with patients (aged ≥65 years with multimorbidity) and two with GPs. Data were coded inductively by applying thematic analysis.
RESULTS
Patient acknowledgement of clinician medicolegal vulnerability in the context of multimorbidity, and their recognition of this as a barrier to SDM, is a new finding. Medicolegal vulnerability was a unifying theme for other reported barriers to SDM. These included expectations for GPs to follow clinical guidelines, challenges encountered in applying guidelines and in communicating clinical uncertainty, and limited clinician self-efficacy for SDM. Increasing consultation duration and improving continuity were viewed as facilitators.
CONCLUSION
Clinician perceptions of medicolegal vulnerability are recognised by both patients and GPs as a barrier to SDM and should be addressed to optimise delivery of personalised care. Greater awareness of multimorbidity guidelines is needed. Educating clinicians in the communication of uncertainty should be a core component of SDM training. The incorrect perception that most clinicians already effectively facilitate SDM should be addressed to improve the uptake of personalised care interventions.
Topics: Aged; Clinical Decision-Making; Decision Making; Decision Making, Shared; Humans; Multimorbidity; Patient Participation; Qualitative Research; Uncertainty
PubMed: 35379603
DOI: 10.3399/BJGP.2021.0529 -
The American Journal of Bioethics : AJOB Jul 2022
Topics: Algorithms; Artificial Intelligence; Decision Making; Humans; Morals
PubMed: 35737501
DOI: 10.1080/15265161.2022.2075968 -
Maturitas Jun 2022
Topics: Decision Making; Decision Making, Shared; Decision Support Techniques; Health Personnel; Humans; Patient Participation
PubMed: 35210128
DOI: 10.1016/j.maturitas.2022.02.001 -
BMC Women's Health Feb 2023The decision to undergo non-urgent egg freezing (EF) is complex for patients and providers supporting them. Though prior studies have explored patient perspectives, no...
BACKGROUND
The decision to undergo non-urgent egg freezing (EF) is complex for patients and providers supporting them. Though prior studies have explored patient perspectives, no study has also included the separate perspectives of providers.
METHODS
This qualitative study involved semi-structured individual interviews exploring the decision to undergo EF. Participants included patients considering EF at one academic fertility clinic and providers who counsel patients about EF from across Canada. Data analysis was accomplished using thematic analysis. Data saturation was met after interviewing 13 providers and 12 patients.
FINDINGS
Four themes were identified and explored, illuminating ways in which patients and providers navigate decision-making around EF: (1) patients viewed EF as a 'back-up plan' for delaying the decision about whether to have children, while providers were hesitant to present EF in this way given the uncertainty of success; (2) providers viewed ovarian reserve testing as essential while patients believed it unnecessarily complicated the decision; (3) patients and providers cited a need for change in broader societal attitudes regarding EF since social stigma was a significant barrier to decision-making; and (4) commonality and peer support were desired by patients to assist in their decision, although some providers were hesitant to recommend this to patients.
CONCLUSIONS
In conclusion, the decision to undergo EF is complex and individual patient values play a significant role. In some areas, there is disconnect between providers and patients in their views on how to navigate EF decision-making, and these should be addressed in discussions between providers and patients to improve shared decision-making.
Topics: Child; Humans; Fertility Preservation; Decision Making; Qualitative Research; Decision Making, Shared; Canada
PubMed: 36755254
DOI: 10.1186/s12905-023-02189-3 -
Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews.... Mar 2022Memories affect nearly every aspect of our mental life. They allow us to both resolve uncertainty in the present and to construct plans for the future. Recently, renewed... (Review)
Review
Memories affect nearly every aspect of our mental life. They allow us to both resolve uncertainty in the present and to construct plans for the future. Recently, renewed interest in the role memory plays in adaptive behavior has led to new theoretical advances and empirical observations. We review key findings, with particular emphasis on how the retrieval of many kinds of memories affects deliberative action selection. These results are interpreted in a sequential inference framework, in which reinstatements from memory serve as "samples" of potential action outcomes. The resulting model suggests a central role for the dynamics of memory reactivation in determining the influence of different kinds of memory in decisions. We propose that representation-specific dynamics can implement a bottom-up "product of experts" rule that integrates multiple sets of action-outcome predictions weighted based on their uncertainty. We close by reviewing related findings and identifying areas for further research. This article is categorized under: Psychology > Reasoning and Decision Making Neuroscience > Cognition Neuroscience > Computation.
Topics: Decision Making; Humans; Memory; Neurosciences; Problem Solving; Uncertainty
PubMed: 34665529
DOI: 10.1002/wcs.1581 -
The Journal of Adolescent Health :... Jul 2021
Topics: Adolescent; Decision Making; Decision Making, Shared; Humans; Patient Participation
PubMed: 34172143
DOI: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2021.04.009